A Georgia woman dialed 911 to report her drunk ex-boyfriend was creating a disturbance at a child’s birthday party, and told a sheriff’s dispatcher, “I need the police at my house right now.” But instead, Mindy Bullard’s report that Dwight Hartline had sped off in a vehicle sparked only a “BOLO” to an adjacent agency. Four hours later, Hartline returned to the house, killed two people and was fatally shot himself by one of the party guests. Now officials in both counties are explaining their actions. Bullard lives in Whitfield County, less than a mile from the boundary line with Murray County. When she dialed 911 from a cellular phone to report the disturbance, her call went to a Murray County 911 dispatcher. Bullard told the dispatcher that she wanted an officer, but dispatcher Andrea Petty only took information about Hartline and his vehicle, and telephoned a Whitfield County dispatcher with the “be on the lookout” information. Deputies didn’t spot Hartline’s car. Four hours later, Hartline returned to Bullard’s house, confronted two men in a laundry room and shot both of them, sparking a second 911 from Bullard. One of the victim’s routinely carried a gun for protection, and fatally shot Hartline before he died. Officials from both counties noted that Hartline had already left the house, and deputies wouldn’t have been able to contact him there even if they had responded. Murray County 911 director Peggy Vick said Vick dispatchers there typically take a caller’s information and pass it on to the related county. Read the original story a follow-up account with the associated 911 calls.
6 comments… add one
A BOLO in this situation is completely satisfactory. The BOLO is based on what had happened, not what could of happened. Public Safety can’t apply the “what if” to every scenario.
You’re directly on point. There is a lot of case law already established on this. The one that comes to mind is the case out of California (I want to say Los Angeles County or San Diego County Sheriff’s Office) when a woman called 911, reported that her ex-husband had made threats to come to the house and kill her. Because he was not on-scene and there was no ETA, they refused to send an officer. She and several family members were subsequently murdered. They sued and both the circut and, later, federal appeals court ruled that law enforcement agencies cannot predict crimes. All we can do is respond to legitimate calls for service, with actual perpetrators on the scene. In the interim, people have got to start taking responsibility and accountability for their own choices.
Yep, exactly Anthony. It is a BOLO only absent any physical violence before he left.
I think one of the issues of this situation is “ownership” of the 911 call. Taking the call information and making it a BOLO might be okay for Murray County. But Whitfield County didn’t get to evaluate the call or incident for itself. Would they have decided to handle it differently if they talked directly to the caller? Somehow I have the feeling that Whitfield County is saying, “Gee. We would have liked to handle that call ourselves.”
The call should have been transferred to the other county, then the responsible center could talk directly to the caller. Secondly, Murray County should have told Whitfield to see the caller as well as BOLO for the vehicle. Those are two areas where it could have been better handled even if the guy never came back to murder two people. It’s ALWAYS better to talk to the original complaintant than a go between. It’s like getting a 3rd party call from a neighbor who’s other neighbor called them to say their husband is beating the kids.
The local newspaper has now posted a story with quotes from the dispatcher who handled the initial call. The Murray County 911 director also says she followed their procedures when handling the call. Surf – http://bit.ly/9CCgLt
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